Home Contact Us Sitemap Tell a Friend Search:   Blog Sign In to Vote Volunteer   Home >  Blog >  Blog Details Visits: 50515      Back to Blog  Tom Friedman's "Favorite Green Lump" New York Times Opinion Columnist, Thomas L. Friedman offered a provocative piece on the green potential of coal as a fuel for the future ("My Favorite Green Lump," January 10, 2007). The only problem is that, when used as a fuel, coal produces a significant amount of CO2, which is not good for our atmosphere regardless of whether global warming is simply cyclical or all our fault. I'm only half-kidding but, being that I haven't seen much written about it, has anyone considered that the most likely solution to global warming is to simply adapt and evolve? Isn't that why we've been able to survive over the past million years? Even if you argue that the past million years were relatively benign we cannot deny the fact that it was our intelligence and ability to think in the abstract that permitted us to adapt while the dinosaurs did not. Perhaps we can do it again. The only facet of the human race that has not kept pace with technology is its spiritual component and that's because religious dogma gets in the way -- a classic case of mankind being too smart for its own good. Well, maybe we can't do much about our spiritual environment until the sin of avarice for another's country's oil, territory or women is overridden by a higher power within us, but we can do something about coal and the fact that, according to Montana's Governor Brian Schweitzer, his state has "... enough to replace all of our imported oil for the next 60 years." We just need to get the CO2 out of it. I'll turn over the next two paragraphs to Tom and the good Governor: "So Governor Schweitzer’s crusade is to get the coal-burning industries to take the lead on this, in partnership with government. The governor recalled a recent conference of coal-dependent industries, held in Phoenix, at which he held up a lump of coal and warned: 'You are the people who represent the companies who will decide whether I’m holding up the future of energy or the past. Take a look at all the other people sitting at your table. You know who you see? You see the last remaining people on the planet who don’t believe CO2 is a problem. ... The only way you will make this the energy of the future is to recognize C02 as a problem and that you have to be part of the solution.' And by the way, he added, 'there is a lot of money in it for you guys. You can sell this technology all over the world.' Governor Schweitzer has a plan for Washington: 1) Set a floor price for crude oil in the U.S. at $40 a barrel forever. That will tell Wall Street that if it invests in new, clean coal technologies — which can be run profitably at the equivalent of $40 a barrel — OPEC will never undercut them. 2) Set up a European-style cap and trade system rewarding companies that buy clean coal technologies and punishing those that don’t. 3) Have Washington co-invest in a dozen pilot gasification and liquefaction technologies — which already exist — for cleaning coal and sequestering the carbon dioxide. Then we’ll identify the best technologies quicker and move down the innovation curve. 4) Write the regulations now for how we will manage carbon dioxide that is removed from coal and stored underground." So it looks like we can go our merry way; drive whatever we want to drive; run our air conditioners and appliances night & day; add nuclear, solar, wind and hydro power to the mix as a way to slow things down while we move inland from flooded coastal areas; grow oranges in the Midwest; and use our brain power to adapt to whatever else we bring upon ourselves in the process. If you believe the adage "There are no atheists in foxholes" then, who knows, amid the flux of rapid change, humanity's spiritual component just may have a chance to catch up to its creativity component. Or we may just kill each other off. According to Governor Schweitzer we have 60 years to figure it all out. What do you think? Posted by ..:: GregO ::.. at    01/10/2007   15:56:36 1 Comments  Tell a Friend |  Comment   About Me GregO's Blog Location: New Canaan, CT USA View my complete profile Links Google News Yahoo News CNN News Archives November 2006 October 2006 December 2006 January 2007 Prev Month's Posts Killing Al-Qaeda and Other Fantasies Stand up, Speak out, or its gonna get a lot worse!   RSS Feeds     Instructions     ©2006-07 DayLight Forum. All rights reserved. Terms & Conditions Home  |  DayLight HeatMap  |  XHTML  |  CSS